Running (24 page)

“
I knew
you wouldn’t be able to resist
this
invitation. Beautiful woman, injured on
your
watch. Dastardly
villain like me. She needing
you
to step in and save her. I know how you
operate.”

“
That’s why you hurt her.
To get to me.” Not to get the files like they’d assumed. Not
because of Keeney.

But to lure Seth out into
the open. But
why
?

He wasn’t a damned profiler
like his brother. He didn’t always
get
motivations. But orchestrating
all of this just to pull Seth out? Why? It was stupid. And Riaz
wasn’t stupid. “Can’t say I don’t understand why you’re not halfway
through Mexico right now.”

“
Thought
about it. Was even getting my things together when guess
what?
You
showed
up. And I had a little business with Donnie still to
finish.”

“
Who?”

“
Nina’s
brother. Remember me telling you about him? Kid stumbled onto my
little side business and wanted in. When thwarted, kiddo turned to
Daddy Brusco. Who intended to push
me
aside and take over for himself.
All the money that man has, and he wanted
my
little
business.”

Seth was guessing. “But it
wasn’t the money, it was the
information
he wanted, wasn’t it?”
Seth shifted, blocking more of Alessandra’s body with his own.
“Keeney?”

“
That’s what I figured. He
wanted a line into the Inspector General. Because Nina refused to
help him.”

“
Nina?” What did his
fiancée have to do with the OIG?

“
Her new job? The one she
was transferring to after our wedding? OIG. Keeney’s fucking
office, man. And her daddy wanted that office.”

Seth didn’t get it.
“Why?”

“
Because Vincent Brusco has
someone in nearly every federal office in Texas. Corruption, power,
greed. It’s all his game. He’s an information whore.”

And that disgusted Riaz.
Even after everything he’d done, it disgusted Riaz. Had Seth ever
really known the man? “Who died at your place that day?”

“
Cousin of mine. Actually
worked for Brusco—that’s how I met Nina. The cousin introduced us.
He was the same height, weight. And I knew it would be a few days
before you’d get DNA results back. Buy some time.”

And he just casually burned
his cousin’s body? Discussed it like a squirrel dead on the road?
Sick. “What are you wanting, Tony?”

“
I wanted information from
Keeney. Whatever it was that Brusco wanted. Needed to find you,
make sure you understood that it wasn’t personal.”

“
What wasn’t?”

“
What happened to you. I
just didn’t need you seeing me. So I hit you, and tossed you in the
back of Keeney’s sedan.”

“
Why didn’t you take off,
Tony? Why didn’t you run?”

“
Because a man handles his
responsibilities. Provides for them. Get me?”

“
Not really.”

“
Suppose you got the girl
there pregnant? You stick around?”

“
Hell yeah. Wouldn’t
you?”

“
Trying. But Donnie ruined
that. Couldn’t stick around for my kid if Grandpa was threatening
to kill me, now could I?”

“
So what in the hell were
you thinking of doing? You killed your cousin. You nearly killed
us. And what about Keeney? What the hell happened
there?”

“
Keeney was a means to an
end. Regrettable, but had to be done. As for your girl…she’s
tougher than she looks. Or damned lucky. Didn’t realize she had her
phone on when I shot her. Heard her say my name, dammit. If she
hadn’t done that, I would have just let her be. Just a little sore
from my stopping her from following Keeney.”

“
Don’t
you dare fucking
blame
her for you nearly killing her. Don’t you fucking
dare
. You had no right
involving her.”

“
Like you
didn’t.? Keeney filled me in on what happened. You cowboy-ed, and
kidnapped your own sister-in-law. How hilarious is that? Only you
could manage that! And then to come out of it smelling like roses,
with the hottest damned woman I’ve ever seen on
your
side? Fucking classic
Lark.
But it isn’t
Lark,
is
it?”

“
No, it’s
not. I was put in the unit to find
you.
Find out who was behind all the
shit not going the way it is supposed to. Why the unit sucks so
bad.
Never
thought
it would be you.”

“
Who’d you think? Little
Lizzy? Bertram? Barnes? I could see it being Barnes. That
asshole.”

“
Pretty sure it was you.
This kind of cements it.”

“
Naw. Don’t think your work
is done. But who is going to trust you now? You lose.”

“
What are you planning
here, Tony?”

“
Haven’t really thought
about it.”

“
What’s going to happen to
Nina?”

“
She’ll manage. Daddy will
step in and take care of her and my kid. Not what I wanted—I
actually love that woman, can you believe it?—but it will work
itself out the way it’s supposed to, I guess. Kid won’t want for
anything. Not like I did.”

“
And you?”

“
I’ll
take care of
you.
Take your money, your ID. Maybe even your girl. She’s pretty,
and since I’m losing my own…”

It was stall tactics. Riaz
playing with him. That was all. Seth knew it. They both
did.

Why didn’t Riaz just take
off? Get out of the country while he had the chance? “I don’t get
you, Tony. You should be running. Not hanging around St. Louis.
What are you hoping to accomplish?”

“
Nothing personal, like I
said.”

“
Then you’ll turn around
and get the hell out of this room. She’s not hurt you. So
why?”

“
Easy. I give you this
right here.” He tossed a memory card onto the foot of Alessandra’s
bed. Seth glanced at it then returned his attention to
Riaz.

“
What is it?”

“
Everything you need to
bring down Vincent Brusco. In exchange, I walk away. Head to
Canada—or Mexico. Haven’t decided which.”

“
And then what?”

“
You bring down Nina’s
daddy, and probably that dumbass brother of hers. Once that’s done
and they are all cleared out, I come back and claim my woman and
kid.”

“
You think that will work?
Think she’ll want you after that?”

“
Why not?
I told her I’d always take care of her. I’m a man of my word. I
don’t
run
when
things get tough. Nina knows that.”

“
I can’t let you leave
here, Tony. You know that.”

Tony laughed. “Seth, my
friend. You don’t have any other choice. Take a look at the foot of
your girl’s bed.”

Seth did.

Horror filled him. Wires.
Wires that shouldn’t be there. What the hell had Tony done? He
looked at the other man, saw the satisfaction on Tony’s
face.

“
You’d
better grab her and run,
friend.
There isn’t much time. It might just be a smoker,
but it might be something more.” Tony backed out of the hospital
room. Seth had two choices, follow or get his
girl.

Choice made. The fire alarm
sounded. Had Riaz pulled it? To disappear in the chaos?

Seth yanked the IV free
from Al’s hand, and scooped her into his arms, blankets and all. He
ran.

Smoke billowed out from the
room behind him.

He ran faster.

Chapter
Fifty-Five

***

Paige was nearly knocked
down by the crowd of people rushing out of the hospital. She’d been
on her way
in
to
check on Al and relieve the guard assigned to watch her. The fire
alarms were blaring around the hospital complex.

Was this a false alarm?
What was going on?

She grabbed the first
person in scrubs to pass her. She flashed her badge. “What’s going
on?”

“
Fire on
the third floor. We’re evacuating the people we can until it’s
secure. Someone said it might be a bomb
.
”

Third floor. Where Al was.
A bomb. Something Antonio Riaz would know how to make. She’d
studied his files over and over again. And he could easily have
built something to blow up a hospital. He had the knowledge and
skill to do just that.

“
Cody!”

“
I heard! I’m calling
PAVAD! Then I’m right behind you! Go! Find Al!”

Paige had her weapon ready.
She fought against the pushing crowd until she could get to the far
stairwell. It wasn’t as crowded as the front. She ran up the first
flight, then came face to face with a Hispanic man in his thirties.
A handsome man. One she’d seen dozens of pictures of.

“
Antonio Riaz! Drop your
weapon! Put your hands in the air!”

“
Right
behind you, Paige,” Cody said. She moved to block the other half of
the stairs. No one was getting past the two of them. And they all
knew that. “Riaz, don’t
push
me. Seth Lorcan is family, get
me?”

The man stared at them for
a moment as the people ahead of him on the stairs turned around and
ran back up. Away. No one was in reach, no one to take
hostage.

They had him. And they all
three knew it. “Hands in the air, Riaz!”

He stared at them for a
moment. Paige was ready to pull the trigger if he didn’t cooperate,
if he pulled a weapon. “Guess I can’t win, can I?”

He put his hands in the
air. A handgun dangled in his palm.

Cody pulled it from his
hand. She searched him. Used Paige’s cuffs to contain
him.

They led him out of the
building, toward the first squad car they saw. More were rushing
toward the hospital, she could hear the sirens. Shoved him in the
back seat and locked him in. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Paige stepped away from the
car, turned back toward the rushing crowd. “There! I see
Seth!”

She met the man carrying
her partner halfway. “Thank God! Is she hurt?”

“
No. But Riaz is here in
St. Louis!” Seth was pale but he held Al tight against his chest.
Al was awake and clinging just as tightly to him. Did they even
realize how they looked together? They were two parts of a
whole.

“
We got him!” Paige pointed
to the squad car where it was parked near the emergency room
entrance. “He’s in there. Caught him in the stairs! What
happened?”

“
Bomb underneath her bed.
I’ll explain more later. We need to help evacuate.”

“
I’ll stay with the squad
car until someone from the Bureau arrives to drive him in.” Paige
turned and stepped closer to the police cruiser, toward where Cody
stood next to the two officers assigned that vehicle.

Sudden force knocked her
flat. Sparks burned her coat, melted the material.

Paige covered her ringing
ears, hit the ground hard. Her head banged off the concrete, and
she heard dozens of people screaming.

What had happened? Was it
another bomb? A bigger one?

Where were Al and Seth and
Cody?

Smoke and ash billowed
around her. Visibility was gone.

Chapter
Fifty-Six

***

Seth covered Blondie with
his own body as debris from the now engulfed squad car fell through
the air surrounding them.

What the fuck had
happened?

Blondie was coughing in his
arms, awake and obviously confused. “I’ve got you! I’ve got you,
baby. You’re ok!”

Where were Cody and
Blondie’s partner? They’d been there, hadn’t they? He’d been
talking to Paige…

He pulled himself to his
feet, lifted Blondie into his arms. They needed to get someplace
safe. He looked toward the burning car.

Riaz was dead. There was no
way he could survive that. People were lying on the ground in front
of the car, in blue uniforms. The officers assigned to that car?
Were they alive?

One was moving. Pulling
himself to his feet. He stepped toward other bodies. Women.
Blondie’s partner or Cody. God. Were they dead?

The police officer was
yelling for a medic. Then he checked the next woman. She was
moving, trying to get to her feet. Cody. Thank God.

She rushed to Blondie’s
partner.

Seth pulled Blondie tighter
to his chest. They needed to get out of there. Needed somewhere
safe.